Századok – 2016

2016 / 4. szám - KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Sebők Richárd: Professzionalizáció az igazságszolgáltatásban a 18. században a Királyi Kúria köznemes bíráinak példáján

PROFESSZIONALIZÁCIÓ AZ IGAZSÁGSZOLGÁLTATÁSBAN A 18. SZÁZADBAN 961

ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONALISATION AMONG THE ASSESSORS AND PROTONOTARIES OF THE ROYAL COURT OF LAW, 1724-1785

by Richárd Sebők Abstract

Authors dealing with the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have already called attention to the special role that protonotaries played in the administration of justice in Hungary on account of their legal expertise. In the present paper I was looking for differences from the perspective of professionalisation between the career patterns of persons who held the position of either assessor or protonotary in the Royal Court of Law (Curia Regia), the highest judicial forum in the eighteenth century. The research revealed, firstly, that the offices of archiepiscopal assessors and royal assessors (Assessores Regii) should by no means be treated under the same label, and, secondly, that the judicial careers of the royal assessors on the one hand, and of the protonotaries of the king’s personal presence (Proto-Notarii Personalis Praesentiae Regiae) on the other hand, diverged considerably. Whereas in case of promotion the former were appointed as noble assessors (Assessores ex Statu Nobilium) directly to the Septemviral Table, the latter most frequently advanced upwards the protonotarial hierarchy within the Royal Court of Law. As for the comital positions they held before appointment to the Court, while the royal assessors generally acted as vice-ispáns, the protonotaries of the personal presence rather assumed the office of county notary, which involved considerable legal expertise and a high level of literacy.